12/21/24:
17:45:
It should be obvious that I am really enthusiastic about this concept. Indeed, it may be THE way to go for the Space program. If NASA wants a new direction, this could be it. But there's a danger here.
The danger is that the public may think that this is "too far out there". The danger is from a lack of understanding, in my opinion. To me, the reason this works is that it can give a return on the investment of the taxpayer's money. Other measures are too much in the nature of half-measures, and may well result in the abandonment of great enterprises like this one could be. Half-measures only result in another boondoggle that has to be supported by the taxpayer. But THIS could result in a new source of revenue for the government that puts the space program on a self-funding basis and then some.
The advantage to the use of anti-matter is that it overcomes a lot of the tyranny of the rocket equation. It ends the necessity of super large rockets and the needs for large amounts of fuel. A mere nanogram of the stuff can send you on your way to Mars. A couple of nanograms can put you into orbit. Yet another nanogram can send you into a landing entry. Three nano-grams is hardly anything compared to what could be gathered up on Saturn. Therefore a means of traversing that distance, and many other places, could be opened up.
In short, it could open up the solar system to development. The returns could be mind-boggling. All that is required is the will to do it. Does that will exist? We'll see. The future will depend upon it. No if and nor buts about it. It's go big or go home time.
10 AM:
The best plan for using this was suggested. That plan would be to pick up enough anti-matter for a visit to Saturn, and use Saturn to do more mining. That's because the refill rate for the anti-matter on Earth is too slow. Saturn has the richest deposits. No worries about getting to Saturn if you have this stuff, and no worries getting back. The difference is that you'll have more than enough for all kinds of missions if you do it that way. Otherwise, you'll be too limited. The length of the mission could be shortened because of the power of the anti-matter makes high delta-v missions feasible, hence you should want that, and Saturn is where you can get it.
12/20/24:
Before my computer decided to take a dump, I was checking out something about the Van Allen belts. The idea was to collect propellant from these belts, if feasible. It seems that there was a write up about that, and I was checking it out, then boom.
It seems that there's a possibility of retrieving anti-matter in the Van Allen belts. How interesting. Anyway, anti-matter propulsion is far more powerful than even nuclear power. It may be feasible to travel to the nearest star with this stuff. Just another possibility that might be opening up, ya'll.
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| Yes, it does matter. Maybe a lot. |
This would enable missions to Mars in 45 days. This study wasn't done by amateurs, ya'll.
